Meet Mumbai's Freewheeling Women

Women may have shattered the corporate glass ceiling a while ago, but there are certain niches, such as the public transport system, where female presence is hardly felt. Even this skewness is likely to be phased out soon, with more and more women eager to take matters-rather, wheels-in their hands.

Following in the footsteps of female taxi, auto drivers and the motorwomen on the suburban railway network-though the number is not high-members of the fairer sex are eager to make a foray into Metro, monorail and even BEST sector. Even as the world is set to celebrate International Women’s Day on Thursday, the city has decided to recruit women as drivers for Metro and monorail. Monorail operators, Malaysia’s Scomi and L&T, say they are all for gender equality and will welcome women drivers for their hi-tech transport monorail. “No gender discrimination will be made during recruitment,” said Scomi president Kanesan Veluppillai, who is also the head of the company in India. “There are women drivers on monorail and Metro in several countries, so why not in India?” He added that Scomi had several women engineers in India. “If any woman with the required skills and educational background applies, they will be considered. We need a diploma in engneering for the job,” he said.

Even the city Metro, like its Delhi counterpart that has more than 20 women drivers, is expected to hire female drivers in the next batch of recruitment. Like monorail, Mumbai Metro One also wants applicants to be an engineering diploma. Spokesperson for Delhi Metro Anuj Dayal said in the capital, they had from the beginning decided not to make discrimination over on gender issues and women were treated on a par with men drivers. “In Delhi Metro, women are also trained to take up station managers’ jobs. So far, our experience with the women drivers has been good,” Dayal said.

According to people in the transport circles, women are slowly taken up what is considered a “man’s job”, thanks to modern technology and the winds of change swept in by globalization. “Modern metros and monorails are built with the latest technology and are relatively easy to operate as they are highly automated. This makes it easier for women to handle them,” an official said.

It’s not only the highly automated trains that are making space for women drivers. In BEST too, the Shiv Sena-led committee is keen on introducing women in the red buses, which make up the second most important public transport system in the city, after trains. Committee chairperson Sunil Shinde said, “We will interview a few women for the post of conductors and perhaps in near future, we may have the fairer sex driving our buses on the fast-track corridor routes.”

He had initiated the plan especially for widows of employees who died in harness. And striking a balance between job and family is apparently not a problem for most, like their counterparts in any other profession. Mukund Dhus from public relations department of MSRTC said some female conductors were married with children. “They travel huge distances between Wai or Alibaug and Mumbai and still, they manage to keep a balance between work and home.”

The Western Railway already has its own “power-puff girl”, but it is planning to taken on board a few more women. “Priti Kumari, the first motorwoman in WR, proved in October 2010 that nothing can be considered a male bastion,” said WR chief spokesperson Sharat Chandrayan. Priti was not the first from the country tobe driving a train; before her, Central Railway’s Surekha Yadav, the first motorwoman in Asia, had ferried lakhs of passengers every day on Mumbai’s lifeline.

Entrepreneurs also consider driving-be it a mode of public transport system or a private onejust another job for women. Susiben Shah who runs Priyadarshini Taxi Service said, “More women should be encouraged to take up driving job. I have applied for 100 permits from the state to empower women and provide them with employment as taxi drivers. The government should also encourage women to drive prepaid taxis.” Said Preeti Sharma Menon if Viira Cabs, “Our endeavour has been not only to provide jobs to women drivers, but also to train them in such a way that they are on a par with the men in the profession.

Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Lives! This month iDiva celebrates Women's Month and we are more excited than feature ordinary women who've done extraordinary things! These are women who've gone the extra mile to do something out of the box whether in their businesses, workplaces (breaking stereotypes) or even promoting causes through innovative methods. Read their stories and other interesting features all of March on iDiva.com!